Plane electromagnetic wave

Plane wave An electromagnetic wave with electric and magnetic components perpendicular to, and in phase with, each other. 

Plane-polarized light (Section 9.3) Ordinary light that has its electromagnetic waves oscillating in a single plane rather than in random planes. The plane of polarization is rotated when the light is passed through a solution of a chiral substance. 

Polar Molecule a molecule where the centers of positive and negative charge differ, creating a permanent dipole moment Polarizability ability of an electron cloud in a neutral atom to be distorted Polarized Light light in which the electromagnetic wave vibrates in only one plane Polyatomic Ion an ion consisting of more than one atom... 

Let us look for plane-wave solutions to the Maxwell equations (2.12)- (2.15). What does this statement mean We know that the electromagnetic field (E, H) cannot be arbitrarily specified. Only certain electromagnetic fields, those that satisfy the Maxwell equations, are physically realizable. Therefore, because of their simple form, we should like to know under what conditions plane electromagnetic waves... 

In addition to irradiance and frequency, a monochromatic (i.e., time-harmonic) electromagnetic wave has a property called its state of polarization, a property that was briefly touched on in Section 2.7, where it was shown that the reflectance of obliquely incident light depends on the polarization of the electric field. In fact, polarization would be an uninteresting property were it not for the fact that two waves with identical frequency and irradiance, but different polarization, can behave quite differently. Before we leave the subject of plane waves it is desirable to present polarization in a systematic way, which will prove to be useful when we discuss the polarization of scattered light. 

The nonzero angular momentum which does not exist for circularly and plane polarized conventional electromagnetic waves... 

Whittaker s early work [27,28] is the precursor [4] to twistor theory and is well developed. Whittaker showed that a scalar potential satisfying the Laplace and d Alembert equations is structured in the vacuum, and can be expanded in terms of plane waves. This means that in the vacuum, there are both propagating and standing waves, and electromagnetic waves are not necessarily transverse. In this section, a straightforward application of Whittaker s work is reviewed, leading to the feasibility of interferometry between scalar potentials in the vacuum, and to a trouble-free method of canonical quantization. 

The interaction of a nucleus with the oscillating magnetic field B0, created by the electromagnetic wave, can be understood if it is assumed that it results from the composition of two half vectors, rotating in opposite directions in the xOy plane with identical angular velocities (Fig. 9.6). The vector rotating in the same direction as the precession is the only one that can interact with the nucleus. 

Exercise. Apply the result (2.10) to a plane electromagnetic wave in a medium whose dielectric constant varies randomly with x. How is it possible for the wave to be damped although the medium gains no energy ... 

By using vk = c for die plane electromagnetic wave, we obtain the fundamental statement of quantum mechanics ... 

Chaff is an electromagnetic wave reflector, consisting of a thin narrow piece of metal, designed to be released into die atmosphere (either by dropping from a plane or shot into the air in projectiles) to act as a countermeasure against enemy radar. A grouping of several pieces is called chaff set. A similar device, but longer, is called rope. A small... 

The simplest example of the generation of energy from a pure gauge vacuum is to consider the case of an electromagnetic potential plane wave defined by... 

In the conventional solution of MEs as plane electromagnetic waves, the direction of propagation G is always perpendicular to the plane hence, it is time-independent. Let an external observer of the electromagnetic wave define the z-axis as parallel to G. Then, G = G(f)k, and (G) = (G)k. 

In Maxwell s theory, this dispersion of energy is considered to be negligible, and no damping occurs during the propagation of an electromagnetic wave. Let us consider the plane waves propagating in the z direction ... 

Surface electromagnetic waves (SEW) on a metal-vacuum interface (often called surface plasmons) are discussed to demonstrate the essential features of SEW. SEW are surface waves in the sense that the electric and magnetic fields decay exponentially as one moves away from the surface, either into the metal or into the vacuum. Figure 1 shows the coordinate system we shall use. The metal-vacuum interface is the z = 0 plane, and the metal occupies the z < 0 half-space. The direction of propagation is the positive x-directi on. The metal has a... 

FIGURE 6.1 Propagation of a plane electromagnetic wave along the z-axis. The wave s electric and magnetic Held vectors oscillate parallel to the x and y axes. 

FIGURE 6.2 Trajectories of the electric vector when the electromagnetic wave travels along the r-axis. Projections of the trajectories on the xy plane are a line (a) corresponding to oscillations in a plane and a circle (b) when the vector rotates around the z-axis. 

---